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The Importance of Upgrading The Firmware of CD/DVD Drives

posted on February 27, 2008
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The Importance of Upgrading The Firmware of CD/DVD Drives

Why is important to keep the firmware of your CD and DVD drive updated?

Just like your motherboard's BIOS, you can upgrade the firmware of your CD and DVD drives . The firmware upgrade can improve the efficiency of your drive, fix the bug(s) of previous version firmware, remove region locking, and support for a wider variety of media.

A common error consumers often encounter is not able to use the optimized speed available for the newer CD or DVD media purchased. For example, the maximum optimized speed available on your drive's firmware is only 4x but your newer blank DVDR Medias can burn up to 8x, you will be limited to only 4x by your firmware limitation. The good news is that this common problem can easily be fixed by upgrading your firmware. A better news is that this upgrade is FREE!

Free firmware upgrades

You are linked to the manufacturer's website and can download the updated firmware if your drive maintains the ID string of your drive. The ID string is a piece of code that identifies the drive's model and manufacturer to the operating system. However, if you don't have this ID string, an alternative option is to download (for free) a program / software that can help you identify your drive model and manufacturer if you do not already know. For your convenience, we have provided a link for you to download this free software. Some firmware can run under Windows directly and others can only run under DOS, thus they are executed differently.

Firmware Upgrade for Windows

  1. Check the safety label on top of your drive to make sure the model name of your drive.
  2. Download correct file ( if it is a zip file, please unzip it.)
  3. Stop all applications under Windows.
  4. Keep the power supplier without any interruption while upgrade is processing.
  5. Execute the upgrade execution file and select the drive you want to upgrade (if you have more than one drive).
  6. Upgrade (must make sure no power interruption ) and reboot your system to confirm the firmware has changed.

Firmware Upgrade for DOS

  1. Check the safety label on top of your drive to make sure the model name of your drive.
  2. Download correct file (if it is a zip file, please unzip it.)
  3. Reboot your PC and enter the DOS mode.
  4. Enter the directory where the upgrade execution file is.
  5. Keep the power supplier without any interruption while upgrade is processing.
  6. Execute the upgrade execution file and select the drive you want to upgrade (if you have more than one drives).
  7. Upgrading (must make sure no power interruption) and reboot your system to confirm the firmware has changed.

How often should you upgrade your firmware?

There is no set schedule for firmware upgrades. The answer depends on the manufacturer. We suggest you to check the manufacturers' website for new firmware upgrades releases. Base on our experience, 90% of the consumers' problems for CD / DVD burning or reading can be fixed by upgrading your software. Thus, the next time you run into a burning or reading error, try upgrading your firmware for a possible solution.